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Continued from page 3

It is dusk on a Friday evening. Liz is sitting in an office, staring intently at a computer screen. She is reading recipes online.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRING!

LIZ: Liz Ryan!

JACK: Liz, it's me.

LIZ: Oh hi, Jack! I saw your name on my schedule and I was surprised. What's going on?

JACK: I have a leadership crisis - well, that's a bit melodramatic. I have a personnel situation I need to take care of.

LIZ: At 6:45 on a Friday night? What's up?

JACK: There's a guy on my team who needs to be fired immediately.

LIZ: Wow. What did the guy do, coldcock somebody?

JACK: Don't joke around. This is a big deal. It's a senior guy.

LIZ: Wow. So what's the story?

JACK: I guess it's been building up -- this guy has a big role and he has a lot of influence here. There's been tension between us, and today it came out full force, at our C-staff meeting.

LIZ: He called you a horrible name, or what?

JACK: He told me that the company isn't going in the right direction and that strategic 'gaffes' as he called it -- MY gaffes, as he pointed out very clearly - put us behind our annual plan. He went on at length about it. This wasn't one comment. It was a diatribe.

LIZ: That's it? No violence?

JACK: I can't work with him, obviously. He called me out in front of the leadership team -

LIZ: You know, great ape battles, like the kind you had with your guy today -- speaking of which, who was the guy? You haven't mentioned his name.

JACK: Sam, our VP of Distribution. Smart guy, but volatile -

LIZ: For sure. So you say there had been tension brewing between you and Sam before today?

JACK: Definitely. I've been on him about our channel strategy, which is slow to show results -

LIZ: But apart from that, Sam's outburst today came out of the blue?

JACK: I don't know - somewhat. There's been tension.

LIZ: Twice a month we talk on the phone. This is the first I've heard about a disturbance in the Force involving Sam.

JACK: It's been low-key -- we had bigger fish to fry in our calls.

LIZ: But you booked time with me after hours on a Friday specifically to talk about this? Where's Amelia?

JACK: Downstairs.

LIZ: You're home, and your wife is home, it's Friday night and you want to talk about firing a guy?

JACK: Liz, I can't have that kind of insubordination on my team. When a senior executive tells me I'm mis-managing the company, it's time for us to part ways.

LIZ: Let's assume that I agree with that statement, which I don't. Why would you want to talk about it on a Friday night?

JACK: I want to get it done this weekend.

LIZ: Let me get this straight. Your senior team sees a guy go off on you at a Friday meeting, and on Monday morning he's vanished? What do you think they're going to think about that?

JACK: They're going to assume correctly that we reached the point of no return.

LIZ: I wonder if they'll think that if you lose your temper in a meeting and insult the boss, you're toast.

JACK: Is that a bad thing for them to think?

LIZ: Jack, it screams insecurity! That's pure fear-based management. "How dare you say that to me!" The guy shows up to teach you something, and your reaction is "Off with his head!"?

JACK: What does a person have to do to get fired? Does he have to rally the rest of the team against me?

LIZ: Is that what you're worried about?

JACK: I'd say there's one person on his side - maybe two.

LIZ: Now we get to it.

JACK: You think I'm paranoid.

LIZ: Not paranoid, just human. Look, we've all been there. I confess, I fired a guy over the phone one time, similar situation.

JACK: So how can you judge me?

LIZ: I'm not judging you, Jack. My guy needed to leave, but I didn't have to freak out and fire him over the phone. That was fear on my part. Sam might need to leave the company too, but you hired him and you've kept him this long. Isn't there something to learn from this, even if he ends up leaving? Who knows? Maybe he'll give notice this weekend and save you the trouble of firing him. Or maybe there's a heartfelt apology in your inbox right now. Matter of fact, why don't you check?

JACK: No way. I don't care if he does apologize. He was way out of line.

LIZ: The guy has been on your senior staff for what, three years? I've never heard you talk about problems with him.

JACK: He's the curmudgeon type anyway. It just never got personal until today. He's the guy you want in your tent pissing out, rather than outside pissing in.

LIZ: Colorful. So he's volatile. You knew that before today.

JACK: This is too much, Liz. You should have been there.

LIZ: I wish I had been. Here's the thing. What's to gain from firing Sam this weekend?

JACK: Principle.

LIZ: Nix. If anything, it's the principle of shutting down dissent. This is a leadership moment, Jack. It's a gift. Everyone in your company, not just the leaders, will be watching to see how you handle this. Half the company knows about it already.

JACK: He's a smart guy and he's helped us, but this -- I can't stand for it.

LIZ: Unless you shift the frame, Jack, and see today's incident as an opportunity for a conversation you haven't had with your team before. What if you use this flap as a keyhole to an honest conversation about what everyone on the team thinks of your direction - not just Sam? Imagine what you'd learn if you asked them for their honest opinions.

JACK: I think that if you don't approve of the direction your company is taking, you leave. You don't stick around and slam your CEO in the staff meeting.

LIZ: No disagreement there. It's not the way to bring up concerns. But what if some of what Sam is thinking is worth considering? You've always said "I'd rather be rich than right," haven't you?

JACK: There's dissent, and there's insubordination.

LIZ: Did Sam ask you to step outside? Did he tell you you're a punk and a mofo and he hates your guts?

JACK: Don't be ridiculous.

BEAT.

LIZ: I give you credit, Jack. It isn't easy to have a guy hold up a mirror like that.

JACK: Is that what you think? You think he's right?

LIZ: I don't think it's a question of right and wrong, Jack! Everybody is a teacher. Some of them are pleasant. Some are harsh. I'm asking what you can learn from this.

JACK: Now with the hippie stuff.

LIZ: Don't you dare -- I'm from Northern New Jersey, where they'll knife you over a parking spot.

JACK: And shut down bridges to send a message.

LIZ: Anyway, let's not get diverted. Take the weekend off. Forget about Sam. Put it out of your head. You have a beautiful company, an amazing wife and those awesome kids to focus on for the next two days. Would it make you feel better if Sam had actually apologized?

JACK: Maybe.

LIZ: Then why don't you check your email, right now?

JACK: Hold on. Let me see....actually, he wrote. He says...he's ashamed of losing his temper. He feels really bad. He has huge respect for me, and....he wants to apologize personally. He has been frustrated, he says, but that wasn't the way to express it.

LIZ: So.

JACK: I guess we can talk on Monday - I mean you and me. I don't know about Sam.

LIZ: That's progress. I'm proud of you, Jack. You're in the deep water and it isn't easy. But the muscles you grow in these intense situations never fail you. You'll have them forever. Ten years from now you'll laugh about this.